An application was sent to the Regional Ethics Committee at the Linköping University Hospital and the study was approved recently. Informed consent will be obtained from 300 patients (ASA status 1-3) in the age group 40-80 years who are undergoing elective surgery for colorectal cancer. The exact type of cancer, its staging, degree of spread to proximal or distant sites and the pathologic type of cancer will be recorded. Patients on chronic narcotic analgesic medication, those with known immunologic diseases, those with known allergy to LA and those where epidural catheter placement is contraindicated will be excluded. This study will be a multi-centre study in Central Sweden. Patients will be randomized to one of two groups according to a computer-generated random number: Group E - Epidural anaesthesia (EDA) or Group P - Patient-controlled analgesia (PCA).